Multi-wall mailing container



Od- 31 1957 R. T. WOODFORD MULTI-WALL MAILING CONTAINER Filed March 1,1967 l ....llm.

irl-...k I l INVENTOR REINOLD T. WOODFORD ATTORNEYS United States PatentO 3,349,990 MULTI-WALL MAILING CONTAINER Reinold T. Woodford, HudsonFalls, N.Y., assignor to Arkell and Smiths, a corporation of New YorkFiled Mar. 1, 1967, Ser. No. 619,639 6 Claims. (Cl. 229-55) ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A multi-wall mailing container is constructed with anouter wrapper made from a material which allows labels, stamps and inksto readily adhere to it and an inner liner which is attached to theouter wrapper and forms the inside wall of the container. The innerliner is formed with sealed air sacs and attached to the outer wrapperso that the air sacs are in contact with the outer wrapper.

The invention of the present application is directed to an improvedmulti-wall container which has particular application for use as amailing container since it can be readilyassembled at low cost, is lightweight and offers excellent protection for its contents against damagefrom moisture and shock. More specically, the multi-wall containercomprises an outer wrapper made from a material such as speciallytreated Kraft paper which readily allows labels, stamps and inks toadhere to it and an inner liner formed which sealed air sacs. With thisunique arrangement, it has been found that a very strong moisture proofand relatively light Weight package may be formed.

Containers used for shipping articles may be grouped into two classes:(1) those that require a separate packing material to protect thearticle being shipped and V(2) those in which the packing material is aninherent part of the shipping container. In the former class, many typesof packing materials are used such as shredded paper, plastic insertsand packing boards. These materials have decided disadvantages in thatin order to obtain sucient protection for the article being shipped,large quantities of materials must be used which increases the shippingweight of the container. Also, provisions must be made for storing thepackaging material and additional time and personnel are required forpackaging the articles which is expensive to the shipper. Further, noneof the types of packing materials aid in preventing moisture fromentering the container.

Packing boards as shown in U.S. Patent No. 1,945,024 are typical ofpacking materials now being used. The surface of the board is moldedwith protuberances so as to offer a raised surface to the articles beingpackaged. The effectiveness of the cushioning against shock will dependon the stiffness and Weight of the material being used. Therefore, inorder to obtain a good shock absorbing board, the material must beinherently stiff which requires a relatively high weight material. Asexplained above, this gives the disadvantage of increasing the weightand thereby the cost of the material being shipped.

The second class of shipping containers is where the packing material isformed as part of the container. An example of this type of arrangementis shown in U.S. Patent No. 3,018,315. The disadvantage of this type ofcontainer is that the protuberances projecting from the sheet are notsealed and, therefore, as in the case of the first-mentioned patenthereinabove, the effectiveness of cushioning against shock Will dependon the stiffness of the material used which inherently increases theWeight of the final container. Further, the top portion of theprotuberances are in contact with the packaged article and therefore thesize of the protuberances must be varied to the shape of the article toobtain effective cushioning against shock. Clearly, to mold a packagehaving protuberances shaped to the article being packaged is veryexpensive and would eliminate such a package from being used forordinary mailing purposes.

The improved multi-wall container of the present invention solves the-above problems by providing a light weight, waterproof package which isinexpensive to manufacture and offers maximum protection for thepackaged article against shock.

More specifically the multi-wall container of the invention incorporateslan outer wrapper made from a material which allows labels, stamps andinks to readily adhere to it such as, ybut not limited to, speciallytreated Kraft paper. 'Ihe container also utilizes an inner liner whichmakes up the inner wall of the container and comprises two plastic filmswhich are flexible and light weight. In this connection, it has beenfound that polyethylene gives excellent results although otherpolyoleiin films such as polypropylene, and other lms such aspolystyrene and polyvinyl chlorides may be used. The two plastic ilmsare united by the use of heat, resins or other methods well known tothose skilled in the art.

More speciiically, protuberances are formed in one tilm, hereinafterreferred to las the first sheet, and the second lm, hereinafter referredto as the second sheet, is used to seal the protuberances so as to formsealed air sacs. The protuberances can be of any geometric shape such asround, square, rectangular or octangular. According to the presentinvention, the inner liner is arranged so that the second sheet is incontact with the article being packaged and the air sacs are adjacentthe outer wrapper. This arrangement goes directly contrary to what theart teaches, which shows that the top portion of the air sacs areadjacent the article being packaged. Applicant has found that lwhen thesecond sheet is in contact with the article being packaged, as opposedto the air sacs, superior protection against shock is obtained and thereis less `tendency for perforations of the air sacs. Further, by usingKraft paper as the outer Wrapper as opposed to a plastic material, thereis less chance of the package being damaged from other pack-ages movingup against it during shipment. Because ofthe surprising protectionobtained with 'applicants unique arrangement of the inner liner withrespect to the outer wrapper, Ia lighter weight plastic liner can beused which reduces the overall Weight of the shipping container.

Further details of the present invention and its advantages will bereadily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings whichillustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention and in Which:

FIG. l is a top plan View of the inside liner mounted on the outerWrapper.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. l and FIG. 3is the assembled container with a portion of it in section to show theinside of the container.

Referring to FIG. 3, a container 10 is shown comprising an outer wrapper12 and an inner liner 14. The outer wrapper 12 is made from a materialwhich allows inks, stamps and labels to readily adhere to it and reducesthe chance of perforation of the package during shipment through themail. It has been found that special Kraft paper such as low size issuitable for this purpose.

Referring to FIG. 2, the inner liner 14 comprises a iirst sheet 18 and asecond sheet 16. These sheets can be made from a light exible materialsuch as polyethylene.

The sheet 18 is formed with protuberances 20 of uniform height which arein spaced relationship with each other, and preferably uniformly spacedalong the sheet as shown in FIG. 1. The sheet 16 is attached to thesheet 18 so that each of the protuberances 20 are sealed to form airsacs 22 as shown in FIG. 2. The sheets 16 and 18 are united to eachother by heat, resins or other devices known to those skilled in theart.

The inner liner 14 is assembled to the outer wrapper .12 by applying anadhesive to the outer wrapper and then pressing the inner liner againstthe prepared outer wrapper. It is important that the inner liner 14 bearranged so that the air sacs 22 are adjacent the outer wrapper 12 andthe sheet 16 is spaced from the outer Wrapper. Only with thisorientation does one obtain the desired results of a shipping containerwhich offers maximum protection for the article being packaged againstshock and minimizes the possibility of puncturing the package withoutthe use of a stiff, heavy gauge plastic.

The outer wrapper 12 is made wider than the inner liner 14 and the innerliner is oriented with respect to the outer wrapper so that a narrowextension 26 of the outer wrapper is exposed at one of its sides and aportion 28 of the inner liner extends beyond the outer wrapper at theopposite side. A portion 30 of the extension 26 is coated with anadhesive.

In assembling the final package, the combined outer wrapper 12 and innerliner 14 is cut to a desired length suitable for packing a particulararticle. The width of the package will depend on the width of the outerwrapper 12 and inner liner 14 chosen. For purposes of illustration itwill be assumed that the width of the nal package desired is that areaor panel 32 bounded by lines 34 and 36. The package is then assembled byfirst folding a panel 38, which is to the right of line 34, then foldingpanel 40, which is to the left of line 36 and wider than panel 36 by thewidth of the adhesive-bearing portion 30 of the eX- tension 26, over anddown upon the panel 38 (see FIG. 1). It can be seen from FIG. 3 thatwhen the panels 38 and 40 are properly folded, the ends of the innerliner 14 are nearly butted and the portion 30 of the extension 26overlaps a portion of the surface of the outer Wrapper 12. Since portion30 of the extension 26 is treated with an adhesive, it will adhere tothe outer wrapper 12 to form a sleeve containing inner liner 14 alsosubstantially in the contiguration of a sleeve. In this manner, auniform package is obtained with no unnecessary bulk and which assuresmaximum protection for the article packed since the inner liner 14 withits sealed air sacs 22 is distributed throughout the inside of thepackage.

The bottom 42 of the package is formed by uniting a transverse portionof the sleeve under heat and pressure. This will rupture the air sacs 22and fuse the plastic material thereof into a mass which impregnates theinterior pores of the wrapper material 12 and thereby forms a Watertight seal (see FIG. 3). The top of thepackage may be sealed after thearticle is placed in the package by the same method or by any otherclosing means such as staples, tapes, etc. l

It will be understood that it is intended to cover all changes andmodifications of the preferred embodiments of the invention, hereinchosen for purposes of illustration, which do not depart from the spiritand scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A mailing container comprising an outer wrapper and an inner liner,said inner liner including a rst sheet having protuberances in spacedrelationship to each other and a second sheet permanently fastened tosaid rst sheet and sealing said protuberances to form sealed air sacs,said inner liner being attached to said outer wrapper with said air sacsimmediately adjacent said wrapper and with said second sheet spaced fromsaid wrapper, said outer wrapper being folded and united to form asleeve constituting the sides of said container, and a bottom portion ofthe sleeve being united transversely to said first mentioned fold toform the bottom of said container.

2. The mailing container of claim 1 wherein said air sacs are of uniformheight and are uniformly spaced from each other.

3. The mailing container of claim 1 wherein said outer wrapper is widerthan said inner liner to provide an extension of said outer wrapper,said extension being overlapped down 'upon and united to the outersurface of said outer wrapper without substantially overlapping saidinner liner.

4. The mailing container of claim 3 wherein a portion of said extensionis treated with an adhesive.

5. The mailing container of claim 1 wheren the bottom portion of saidsleeve is united by means of heat and pressure sufficient to rupture andfuse the air sacs in said bottom portion of the sleeve to form a watertight seal.

6. The mailing container of claim 1 wherein said outer wrapper is madeof Kraft paper.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,917,217 12/1959 Sisson 229-35XR 3,018,015 1/1962 Agriss et al. 229--14 XR 3,207,420 9/ 1965 Kindelan229-56 DAVID M. BROKENEK, Primary Examiner.

1. A MAILING CONTAINER COMPRISING AN OUTER WRAPPER AND AN INNER LINER,SAID INNER LINER INCLUDING A FIRST SHEET HAVING PROTUBERANCES IN SPACEDRELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER AND A SECOND SHEET PERMANENTLY FASTEND TOSAID FIRST SHEET AND SEALING SAID PROTUBERANCES TO FORM SEALED AIR SACS,SAID INNER LINER BEING ATTACHED TO SAID OUTER WRAPPER WITH SAID AIR SACSIMMEDIATELY ADJACENT SAID WRAPPER AND WITH SAID SECOND SHEET SPACED FROMSAID WRAPPER, SAID OUTER WRAPPER BEING FOLDED AND UNITED TO FORM ASLEEVE CONSTITUTING THE SIDES OF SAID CONTAINER, AND A BOTTOM PORTION OFTHE SLEEVE BEING UNITED TRANSVERSELY TO SAID FIRST MENTIONED FOLD TOFORM THE BOTTOM OF SAID CONTAINER.